The Washburn Rural boys wrestling team faced major turnover after winning the state title last season.

The Junior Blues needed to replace four state medalists, one of whom was a state champion, in a year where they also had a new first-year head coach taking over the program.

The outcome? Business as usual.

Washburn Rural won its second straight state title Feb. 26 at Hartman Arena in Park City, by scoring 151 points to hold off runner-up Derby at 142.5 and Free State at 134. Dodge City finished third with 122 points while Manhattan rounded out the top five with 119.5 points.

Junior Blues head coach Josh Hogan took over the program after former head coach Damon Parker announced in the spring that he would step away from coaching the boys team and while remaining the girls head coach, a decision related to Parker addressing his personal battle with mental health issues.

Hogan became the popular choice as a replacement for Parker, who originally hired Hogan 10 years ago to run the Topeka Blue Thunder Wrestling Club, a youth feeder program for the school.

"Damon's done such a great job in the time that he's been here," Hogan said. "I didn't change a whole lot. The things that were really, really good, I tried to keep and I tried to put my own spin and flares on things here and there.

"But all in all, it was business as usual."

That consistency meant the Junior Blues fielded a team of 11 state qualifiers, six of which finished as state medalists. Rural took care of business well enough that it started the championship round with a clear path to the state title, needing two wins with three wrestlers vying for gold.

Seniors Aidan Boline and Austin Fager delivered as they ended their high school careers with individual state titles.

Boline kicked off the championship round with a 5-0 decision against Olathe East senior Nick Carlson to clinch the 160-pound state title. Boline overcame multiple injuries throughout his high school wrestling career that included tearing both of his ACLs and a compound fracture in his arm.

"It feels amazing," Boline said. "It almost doesn't feel real because I don't think it's set in yet. But I feel like tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up and I'll feel like a whole different man."

Returning from a fifth-place finish at state last year, Boline spent this season trying to prove he was one of the top wrestlers in his weight class. His state performance clinched that.

"We knew that Aidan was the best 160-pounder in 6A all year," Hogan said. "He had some points in the season where he dropped some matches that maybe we thought we shouldn't have, but he really battled back and came back to prove that no matter who was going to step out there against him that he was going to be the victor."

His post-match celebration included a partially choreographed routine where Boline hit an imaginary golf putt, followed by a signature fist pump as Hogan tumbled to the mat as the imaginary ball reached his feet
 

Hogan went to the mat again as a part of Fager's celebration.

Fager put an end to the team race when his first-period pin over Campus senior Aidan Williams in the 182-pound final put Rural's team points out of the reach of Derby.

"We'd talked about how I just had to win to (clinch the team state title), but the pin just really sealed it. It was awesome" Fager said.

Fager said the key for him was staying calm and wrestling smart. After he secured the pinfall, he became anything but calm. Fager celebrated sprinting over to his coaches and throwing Hogan down to the mat, something he's had planned since the beginning of the season.

"It is amazing because we got a new coach and everyone didn't know what we were going to do this year," Fager said. "Our senior group last year left and we really just proved that, 'Hey, we're still here.' We're the top program in this state."

In the third finals match for Washburn Rural, freshman Easton Broxterman had to settle for second place. Junction City sophomore Ezekial Witt pinned Broxterman in the final minute of the match.

The Blues also had a few returning state champions from last year who fell to the backside of the bracket this season. Senior Jacob Tangpricha (126) and sophomore Jonathan Morrison (113) lost their semifinal matches, but both picked up key points for the team by finishing third in their weight classes.

Tangpricha was pinned by Cael Alderman of Olathe North while Morrison lost a 6-2 decision to Nolan Bradley of Free State. Alderman and Bradley both went on to win their finals.

Tangpricha earned a pinfall win in the consolation semis before taking a 1-0 decision over Lawrence's Kevin Honas in the third-place match. Morrison finished with two of his four pinfall victories at state to win third place as well.

Henri McGivern rounded out the medal winners with his fifth-place finish at 120 pounds.

Hogan said he was not surprised by how many of his wrestlers kept battling for points after getting eliminated from individual state title contention.

"You know, that's really how we train," Hogan said. "It's how we teach the kids and coach the kids, you're never out of it. As long as you're still wrestling, we can win."


CLASS 6A TEAM SCORES

Washburn Rural 151, Derby 142.5, Garden City 140, Free State 134, Dodge City 122, Manhattan 119.5, Olathe East 94, Junction City 89.5, Gardner-Edgerton 76, Olathe North 69, Olathe Northwest 67, Blue Valley West 57, Lawrence 57, Liberal 56.5, Shawnee Mission East 55, Campus 53, Olathe South 46.5, Wichita Northwest 46, Wichita North 26, Blue Valley North 21, Shawnee Mission Northwest 20, Blue Valley 19, Hutchinson 16, Shawnee Mission South 15, Wichita South 13, Wichita West 12, Shawnee Mission West 11, Blue Valley Northwest 10, Olathe West 8, J.C. Harmon 3, Topeka 3, Wichita East 3, Wyandotte 1.